As a general proposition, it is known in the transportation industry to attempt to achieve some degree of desired temperature control for products being shipped using, for example, gel packs, “dry ice” (frozen carbon dioxide) and the like. As a substantial advance over the foregoing prior art devices, vastly improved, cooling or heating devices using sheets of packet material which include porous cells containing a super-absorbent polymer have much more recently been suggested, which are described in some detail in the above referenced patent and patent applications. Further reference is had to U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,845 issued May 13, 1997 entitled “Process for Forming Hydratable, Flexible Refrigement Media” by Murray and Browne, and to PCT/US 92/06486 (published as WO 93/02861 on Feb. 18, 1993) of George Barrett (now deceased), a predecessor to the work that preceded the present invention.
For general background, informational, purposes, reference is also had to the article entitled “Pharmaceutical shipments chill out from within” from the January 1998 edition of Packaging World (a Summit publication, One IBM Plaza, Suite 3131, 330 N. Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611; note p. 38), which article discusses some of the beneficial effects of early test work which preceded the present invention.
For example, as disclosed in one or more of these patents and/or publications, the sheets of packet material are initially submerged in water, hydrating them, and the hydrated sheets are then frozen (for cooling effects) or heated (for heating effects) and placed in at least some proximity to and more typically in juxtaposition to the goods to be cooled/heated. As the packet sheet(s) begin, for example, to warm up or thaw, the absorbed “water” goes directly from the frozen state into a gaseous state, avoiding wetness problems. The cells are formed in packets, producing longitudinally and laterally extended separation lines, which allow the completed packet sheets to be folded about either or both axes and thus contoured around the goods being cooled (or heated), surrounding them.
With respect to temperature and elapsed time monitoring in connection with the product “VitSab,” see the information provided by Cox Technologies on the product in the attached printed references, as well as more detailed information contained in the parent application.
In a separate art, it is desired to have, for example, groceries or other perishable products delivered from a purveyor to a consumer, a practice which was somewhat commonplace in the first half of the 20th Century but generally since then has become relatively rare in comparison to the direct purchase of groceries at the supermarket. However, with the blossoming of the Internet and e-commerce on the Internet and orders faxed to the purveyor, great interest is again being directed to the delivery and shipment of groceries, as well as other perishable or temperature sensitive goods, in connection with an order placed over the Internet, as well as by telephone.
The packaging and delivery of orders for such goods provides an exemplary application, among many, many others, for the insulating, packaging material and its related packaging system of the present invention but many of the details of which are not part of the present invention. Additional information on the background of this particular application is contained in the specification of the parent application.
With respect to some, additional background information on insulating packaging materials and related packaging systems, reference is had, not only to the applications, patents and references above but also to:
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The present invention provides a utilitarian, innovative solution to the problem of needing and having highly improved insulating materials and packaging solutions for temperature sensitive and/or perishable goods of practically all types.